Exemplary embodiments herein generally relate to a vehicle seat assembly, and more particularly to an apparatus for retaining a seatbelt webbing away from a seat split line as a seatback is moved between an upright position and a folded, stowed position.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a known vehicle seat assembly 100 includes a seatback 102 moveably connected to a seat base or cushion 104. The seatback 102 can be moved between an upright, seated position (FIG. 1) and a folded, stowed position (FIG. 2) where the seatback rests upon the seat base 104. A stationary bolster 110 and stationary cushion 112 can be provided on the respective outboard lateral sides of the seatback 102 and the seat base 104. The seatback and the stationary bolster define a seat split line 114. The vehicle seat assembly 100 further includes a seatbelt assembly having a seatbelt webbing 120 and a seatbelt latch or tongue 122 joined to the seatbelt webbing via a webbing loop 126, through which the webbing 120 is threaded. A tongue plate 128 is selectively engaged by a belt buckle 130 anchored to a lower portion of a vehicle body structure on an inboard side of an occupant and projecting outwardly from the seat bight 132. An upper portion 134 of the webbing extends through a web guide 136 secured to an upper portion of the vehicle body structure and further extends to a seatbelt retractor (not shown). A lower portion 140 of the webbing 120 is fixedly secured to the vehicle body structure via an anchor 142 located on an outboard side of the cushion 112. A shoulder portion 150 of the seatbelt webbing 120 extends along the seat split line 114 when the seatbelt webbing is in a non-use condition and the seatback 102 is in the upright position.
With such a known vehicle seat configuration, the seatbelt webbing 120 and tongue 122 of the seatbelt assembly can overlap or cross the seat split line 114 between the seatback 102 and the outer side bolster 110. This can present a problem as the seatback 102 is moved between the upright position and the folded position in that the seatbelt webbing 120 and tongue 122 can be caught in the split line 114, as depicted in FIG. 2.